Free Agency Period Will Begin October 30th

Congratulations to the Cardinals and World Series MVP David Freese for winning the 11th World Championship in franchise history tonight. Now that they're done playing on the field, all of the off-the-field fun starts.

Major League Baseball and the Players' Association announced earlier this evening that the start of the free agency period will be delayed by 24 hours, and will officially begin at 12:01am ET on Sunday, October 30th. All team/player/mutual option decisions are due by 11:59pm ET on Monday, October 31st. Free agents will be able to sign contracts with new teams starting at 12:01am ET on Thursday, November 3rd. The MLBPA will release a full list of free agents on Sunday, but here is our Free Agent Tracker so you don't have to wait.

Nov. 23rd: Last day for clubs to offer salary arbitration to Type-A or B free agents in order to receive draft pick compensation. Deadline is midnight ET. Here are the reversed-engineered Elias rankings.

Dec. 7th: Last day for free agents to accept arbitration, if offered. Deadline is midnight ET.

Dec. 5th-8th: Winter meetings in Dallas.

Dec. 12th: Deadline to tender contracts to players with less than six years of service time. Our Arbitration Eligibles series will give you an idea of which players are non-tender candidates.